Review: "Dragon Magazine Annual"
When WotC announced that the venerable Dragon and Dungeon magazines were becoming digital-only offerings, the reaction was controversial at best. The magazines are only available in PDF, and to subscribers of the D&D Insider service. As of now, there is still no way to get the magazines without a subscription to the whole package of DDI. Not too long after the details shook out it was revealed that some of the content would be reprinted in Annuals. Dragon Magazine Annual is the first of these collections, with Dungeon Magazine Annual following next May.
Unfortunately, this first Annual has a few flaws that keep me from recommending it as a product. Namely, it doesn’t seem to have a solid audience. Obviously, if you already have a DDI account, you’ve seen this all already, and even if not, many of the articles are still available for free in PDF. The articles are a mix of player-focused and DM-focused, with some mixture between but many articles being useless if you primarily DM or play. Additionally, many of the articles are a niche audience anyway. While the articles ARE some of the best that DDI has produced, their usefulness to a specific possible buyer of the book makes it difficult to recommend it to a wide audience.
Here’s what you get in the book, with links to the original article posting: [Read the rest of this article]
GenCon 2009: 4e Extravaganza (with Photos)
On Friday at GenCon, we attended the 4e Extravaganza, which was where the new setting was announced (which I’m sure everyone has heard by now is Dark Sun).
However, there were a number of other products showcased, some new, some already known, and a few big surprises. I used Twitter to report the announcements as they came, but I thought I’d post the pictures that Bartoneus took alongside the updates (cleaned up for readability).
I will add the caveat that we didn’t cover everything, especially the announcements about the novels at the beginning. There were video cameras set up at the back, so if you want to see the presentation in full, you probably will be able to later. Here’s the easily skimmable version for the stuff I found most interesting. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: "Adventurer's Vault 2"
Overview: The second arms and equipment resource book, Adventurer’s Vault 2 is much like the first installment but this time presenting a myriad of items for (as the cover says) ALL character classes. This book begins to fill out some of the under represented classes such as the Swordmage and most of the PHB2 classes that missed out on the items in the first Player’s Handbook and Adventurer’s Vault. Many of the items introduce new mechanics, but perhaps most interesting in this book is the amount of fluff that has been poured into the sidebars about many of the items presented within. If you can’t get enough variety with your 4E magic items, or have really wanted some magical ammunition for those ever-so special occasions, or want to spice things up with sets of items that confer bonuses the more items you wear, then Adventurer’s Vault 2 is definitely a book you will want to pick up.
In-Depth: This book presents a slew of new weapons, armors, implements, accessories, consumables, and woundrous items for both players and DMs. It also re-introduces the concept of magical ammunition to 4th Edition, a decidedly classic move which confused me at first but upon reading I think adds something new and unique that players will enjoy. Also new in this book are Lair items which are stationary objects used to enhance specific locations, magical tattoos that can benefit an individual or multiple members of a party, and last but not least are item sets that bestow additional benefits depending upon the number of items from the set that are worn.
I’ll address the Item Sets first, as its possibly the most interesting part of the book. Right away this must stand out as the sweetest vindication for those that believe 4th Edition is just World of Warcraft, but the fact remains that it is a really interesting reward and customization mechanic that I can see being incredibly fun in a tabletop setting. AV2 presents more than ten item sets in the heroic and paragon tiers, and five epic tier sets, each which consists of between 4 and 6 individual items that make up the set. Each set is typically attuned to one or two specific classes and grant abilities that are extremely useful for those classes, such as the Blade Dancer’s Regalia that allows a fully outfitted Ranger to use Hunter’s Quarry as a free action. Every set has a unique theme that brings a lot of character defining potential to the table, that is of course assuming your character is in any way identified by what they are wearing!
Apart from the different tiers of item sets, there are also several Group Sets that grant bonuses based upon the number of party members that wield or wear a piece of the set. This idea bothered me at first, but then the thought of a party all weilding weapons from a specific set or each wearing a different magic ring that work together magically sounds pretty damn cool in the end. Besides, now you can finally put aside that Captain Planet RPG and just play D&D instead!
As mentioned in the overview, this book seems to be filling in some magic items for classes like the Swordmage with the aegis blade and the farbond spellblade and the Bard with some new songblades and songbows. There are also some new holy symbols that encourage multiclassing that can function as both a holy symbol and a totem or arcane implement. The magical ammunition adds another layer to magical ranged weapons with items like Dispelling bolt which ends magical effects on enemies and Phasing arrow which can pass through walls, none of them is as unbalanced as some ammunition was in earlier editions but they seem to create some nice variety that players will really enjoy.
Before reading this book I thought that there were too many items available for 4E, I had trouble finding what I was looking for and it usually became too much of a chore. What I discovered with this book is that is not the case, it’s simply that they have not been indexed correctly until now. In the back of Adventurer’s Vault 2 is an Appendix: Item Tables just like in the first one, but this time the items are presented by level and (thank god) split based upon type of item. So if you’re looking for level 10 armor, you go to the level 10 section and find a nice list of 7-8 armors that are available at that level. The only unfortunate part is that this index does not include items from previous books.
Now that they are properly indexed, we can more easily enjoy all of the additional treasures to obtain or hand out! The biggest and most noticeable change with AV2 is that just about one item from each page features its own sidebar that explains a rich and juicy history of that item, along with some specific quest or plot tie-ins that can be used to incorporate this item into your character or game. These descriptions are the little extra push that this book needs to go from a standard resource of numerous items to an interesting resource that can actually help you with an initial spark of inspiration.
Details: AV2 is 159 pages thick, almost all of which are full of new magic items. Its overall quality seems to be equal to or perhaps just a step above the first Adventurer’s Vault book, though it sacrifices a bit in the number of items the fluff that takes up that space makes the ones that are available a lot more interesting and provides many plot ideas to players and DMs alike. If you didn’t like the first Adventurer’s Vault, then this book is probably not one you’ll want to pick up, however the improved indexing greatly reduces the “too damn many items” feeling that I got from the first AV and all of the subsequent books that have introduced more magic items.
4th Edition D&D: Beyond Level 30
Character level is one of the core concepts behind many roleplaying games, and it has been at the core of D&D from the very beginning as an indication of a character’s abilities, power, and influence in the world. Back in Original D&D they were so distinguished that each level had a different name depending on your class – a Fighter became a Veteran, Warrior, Swordsman, Hero, and eventually Myrmidon, Champion, and finally a Lord.
OD&D in the beginning had a level range from 1 to 11, with only the Magic-User able to reach the highest level after becoming an Enchanter, Warlock, Sorcerer, Necromancer, and finally a Wizard. The first Basic Set only included rules to take characters from levels 1-3, which was then added on to with the Expert Set which expanded the range with levels 4-14. Next in the early 80′s the “Companion Rules” were released which allowed adventurers to play level 15 all the way up through level 25, the “Master Rules” which included levels 26-36, and the “Immortal Rules” which let characters go beyond level 36 effectively transcending the level system.
It was with Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition that level 20 became the standard maximum level for all races and classes, with some different rules for humans/demi-humans and what level they could achieve. 3rd Edition D&D continued the trend by presenting a clear chart of levels 1 through 20 for every character in the core rules, and was expanded upon with the Epic Level Handbook that let characters progress through levels 21 and up. 4th Edition combined the epic levels into the core rules and allows characters to progress from levels 1 through 30, which is supposedly the first time since the “Master Rules” of classic D&D that the core rules included progression beyond level 20.
I haven’t heard of many people playing 4E who want to progress beyond level 30, which is understandable because 30 levels is a long time to be playing a character and the Epic Destinies that carry your character from level 21-30 set up a story for how the character ends their adventuring career. However, even with the first Monster Manual we saw Orcus as a threat higher than level 30 and with the subsequent release of more products we’ve seen Tiamat, Vecna, and many dangerous primordials reach up to level 35. When I first saw that a solo monster was equivalent to 235,000 xp I started to wonder exactly how many epic level characters would be needed for this to not be a ridiculously hard fight, so a while ago I put these numbers together as inferred from the existing 4E rules assuming they follow the same progression. [Read the rest of this article]
Monster Manual 2 – In Depth #4
Continuing a series of posts I did in May, I take a more in depth look at each monster entry in the 4th Edition Monster Manual 2!
Kenku – The Kenku are a great additional humanoid for the early heroic tier, with the obvious uniqueness that they are bird-men to set them apart from all the rest. Their most interesting aspects are an emphasis on stealth and deception with the Mimicry ability that lets them immitate sounds and voices, plus Flock Effect which grants a kenku +3 to hit with combat advantage and when aiding another instead of the normal +2. The varieties presented in the book are each very interesting, with focuses on fighting as a group and avian themed spells (including one that lets the Kenku Wing Mage fly for the rest of the encounter).
Krenshar – A very odd monster, the Krenshar is a catlike creature that can peel back the skin on its face to scare its enemies. The normal Krenshar is an interesting level 4 controller with a roar that dazes and weakens enemies or a unnerving skull attack that gives heroes a -2 penalty to attack rolls. It also has a fearsome visage aura that gives those within it a -2 penalty to saving throws against fear effects which can make for some really intense status effect driven battles.
Lizardfolk – The new additions to the lizardfolk monster entry are all of the Poisonscale variety. Like the kenku the new lizardfolk are a great addition to the lower heroic tier, with a lot of good encounter combinations possible amongst them. The Poisonscale Magus can do lots of poison damage and ongoing poison damage, but perhaps most deadly is the poison barrage area attack that makes targets vulnerable 5 to poison. The Poisonscale Slitherer is not pictured but I imagine them more like snakes than humanoids, they use javelins and have stability that makes them impossible to knock prone or be forced to move.
The Poisonscale Savage is particularly vicious with an aura of poison that gives enemies a -2 to saving throws versus ongoing poison damage, in addition to two attacks that can cause ongoing poison damage on its own. The Poisonscale Collector and Poisonscale Myrmidon round out their brethren with the Poison Strike ability that gives them a +2 bonus to damage rolls against enemies suffering from ongoing poison damage!
Lycanthrope - Here we have three new varieties of Lycanthrope, the first is the level 6 brute Wereboar who can infect PCs with Moontusk Fever and has one hell of a maul attack. The Weretiger on the other hand is a quicker and more subtle foe as an level 11 elite skirmisher, with a choice between two high crit katar attacks a round or a pounce attack that does lots of damage, pushes you one square, and knocks you prone. Weretigers also have a slashing recoil that means if you miss them with an attack they get to immediately strike back and shift two squares away. The last new addition might be the coolest, the Werewolf Lord is an level 13 elite bruter (leader) that has a Blood Moon aura which gives it and its allies a bonus to hit and a huge bonus to damage against bloodied targets. Like the Weretiger, the Werewolf Lord can also make two attacks in a round but with a falchion instead, he also gets the vicious Speed of the Wolf ability which lets him shift 6 squares and make a bite attack in wolf form and a Savage Howl that heals its allies and allows them each to make a free bite attack! Each of them is vulnerable to silver, of course, so you should have no problems taking care of them….right?
Mammoth – This normal animal entry almost seems out of place in the book, but the single creature presented is actually very cool – the Nyfellar Mammoth. This level 17 brute, whom I shall call “Stampy”, naturally has a standard mammoth gore and stamp attacks but can also use a slew of interesting abilities that will tear your party to pieces. Blizzard Trample, which recharges when the mammoth becomes bloodied OR when it takes cold damage, lets it shift 8 squares through enemy spaces and make one stamp attack against each enemy it walks over! Tusk Toss is definitely one of the most interesting abilities that I’ve seen so far, it’s a reach 2 attack that does 1d10+5 damage but also launches the target up to 30 feet (yes 4E actually uses feet first sometimes) into the air until they land 5 squares away and take falling damage. Oh, I almost forgot to mention that this elemental beasty is a mount and when mounted it can use blizzard trample OR tusk toss while charging.
Marut – Here we see three curious new additions to this immortal monster entry, the Marut Castigator (level 21 skirmisher), the Marut Prosecutor (level 21 controller-leader), and the Marut Executioner (level 22 brute). The Castigator wields a double sword and can teleport using Thunderbolt Strike to surprise PCs with double sword attacks. The Prosecutor is one of the few monsters in the MM2 that attempts to take the ‘non-combat’ monster approach, using its Dictum power to immobilize foes and (I kid you not) a power called Biting Testimony that does psychic damage along with giving a -2 penalty to attack rolls, skill checks, and ability checks. Lastly the Executioner is like the Castigator except uses he uses a double axe, has a power that if it drops a PC to zero hitpoints the marut gains an action point, and an Executioner’s Call that pulls all creatures in a close blast 5 adjacent to him.
Myconid – Finally our fungal friends make an appearnace, unfortunately the Myconid only get three entries in this book and all of them are in the low heroic tier. The Myconid Rotpriest is a fey plant creature with regeneration that does not function if it takes radiant damage (I thought plants liked the light?) and has a power called Decomposing Spray. Each of the Myconids has the Roots of the Colony ability that lets them split damage they take half and half with a myconid ally within 5 squares. While the Myconid Soveriegn can boss other plants around, the Myconid Guard can use Pacification Spores to deal poison damage and prevent enemies from taking standard actions for one turn.
Neogi – The first sentence of this monster entry should pretty well sum things up, “Neogi see the world in terms of ownership.” What we have here is the Neogi Slaver (level 10 controller-leader) who has a bite attack that does on going poison damage and on a failed save slows the target. He also uses a Charm Bolt that gives a penalty to attacks and on a failed save makes the slaver invisible to the target, and a close blast 3 power called Psychis Shackle that dazes targets for one round…is anyone else really not looking forward to fighting these guys yet? Oh and the power Thrall Goad that lets all allies within 6 squares make a saving throw with a +5 bonus. The Neogi Spawn Swarm is a swarm that mostly just bites and screams…and the Neogi Great Old Master is just gruesome. For starters it has a Thrall Field aura 1 that gives enemies a -4 penalty to saving throws (now think back to the slaver and all the saves he was making you fail), next up is the Enslaving Bolt power which slows, then on a failed save a penalty to attack rolls, on a second failed save you are dominated, and finally on a third failed save if you are bloodied then you are dominated by the Neogi until you take an extended rest (not that you get to choose when).
Nothic – These creepy one-eyed abberant baddies are not to be messed with casually, and will definitely make great additions to the backrow of any paragon level encounter. The Nothic Cackler (level 15 artillery) can use its ranged Mind Rot power to deal psychic damage and slide a target 6 squares followed by the target making a melee basic attack against a target of the Nothic’s choice. It can do that power at-will. It’s other at-will ranged attack is Rotting Gaze which can target up to three creatures, does necrotic damage, and inflicts a -2 penalty to all defenses (save ends). It’s Maddening Cackle is a close burst 3 that does psychic damage and pushes targets 2 squares and then another 2 squares at the start of the target’s next turn.
The Nothic Mindblight (level 19 controller) has an aura that lets it slide creatures that start their turns within it, and it has an Eye of Insanity attack that dominates foes. Perhaps more dangerous is its Mesmerizing Visage ranged power that gives targets a -1 penalty to saving throws, and if failed then grants a -3 penalty to saving throws! The last variety is the delightful sounding Nothic Eye of Vecna (level 22 lurker-leader), whose aura lets undead make free attacks if they start their turns within it and it can make a mobile melee attack which immobilizes targets and gives them a -2 penalty to saving throws. Its main eye attack is Eye Rot which only makes one attack roll versus all enemies in a close burt 10 and on a hit it becomes invisible to them (save ends), which works great in combination with its Invisible Advantage that causes an ally to attack targets that it hits who can’t see it. As you can probably tell, all three of these Nothics are sure to drive PCs insane in record time.
Oni – The first Monster Manual provided us with two interesting types of japanese-ghosts, now we have three more to add to the group all of which can change their appearance in dasterly ways. The Oni Devourer is a medium-sized level 7 soldier that claws and devours (which gives a -5 penalty to saving throws) in addition to its Hypnotic Glare that pulls and dazes targets. The Oni Overlord (level 12 elite brute-leader) is a large oni that has an aura that boosts its allies damage but also hurts them if they miss with all of their attacks. It wields a greatclub and can make enemies vulnerable to poison and necrotic damage, but it also boosts allies with the Violent Reward immediate reaction at-will which gives an ally 5 temporary hit points whenever they damage an enemy. The last new monster in this entry is the Onie Thunderer (level 22 skirmisher) that wields a spiked chain to grab and pull foes towards it, then it uses Thunderclap Portal to attack everything in close burst 2 and teleport 8 squares away. As if its not bad enough that one of its move forms is teleport 8, it also teleports 3 squares as a reaction to being hit by attacks.
Ooze – While WotC was smart enough to put the gelatinous cube in the first MM, there were still several classic entries in the Ooze category that were missing. While Abolethic Skum wasn’t necessarily one of those, it is pretty damn cool having a level 18 minion brute ooze to throw at a group of PCs, these bad boys have a small aura that makes opponents vulnerable to psychic damage. Black Pudding is the star of the show this time though, a level 8 elite brute that can engulf opponents with a close blast 3 power and splits off Black Pudding Spawn (level 8 minion brute) whenever it is hit by a weapon attack. The Gray Ooze (level 2 skirmisher) is a devious threat for low level adventurers with a stench aura that gives a penalty to attack rolls and the Bone Melt basica attack which gives a target a cumulative -2 penalty to Fortitude for each time it hits with an attack. The last new ooze presented here is the Green Slime (level 4 lurker) which uses its main attack to engulf a foe and split any future damage between itself and the target it has engulfed while it slowly dissolves them.
Phoelarch – The two types of monster presented here are actually described as stages in the same creature’s life cycle, a Phoelarch is a half-natural and half-elemental being that begin as humanoids with fire rippling over their skin and when they are slain a fiery bird called a Phoera emerges from the corpse to seek revenge. A Phoerlarch Mage (level 12 artillery) has a damaging fire aura and when it dies it creates a zone of fire damage for the rest of the encounter that then summons a Phoera. The Phoelarch Warrior (level 12 skirmisher) has the same abilities but with a focus on melee instead of ranged attacks, and the Phoera (level 12 skirmisher) that they both summon is an elemental flying bird that can do flyby attacks and cause a lot of ongoing fire damage. When a Phoera is reduced to zero hit points it explodes in a death burst for a lot of fire damage and also creates a zone of damaging fire for the rest of the encounter.
Remorhaz – This monster would definitely place high in a competition of monsters whose names are insanely fun to say with funny accents. Remorhaaaaaaaz! This level 21 elite brute elemental insect-like beasty loves to live in arctic climates so much that it has a Blistering Heat aura that deals fire damage to nearby foes. It really likes to grab you with its main bite attack, followed promptly (and as a minor action I might add) by the inevitable Swallow which causes the lovely restrained condition and ongoing 10 damage plus ongoing 10 fire damage just for funsies! Thankfully if a swallowed creature deals a certain amount of damage to the beast it will regurgitate them into an adjacent square. If its not busy eating you, it also has a trample attack that lets it move 6 squares and knock everyone it touches prone and several abilities that deal fire damage to creatures who are next to it or damaging it in melee. Hooray!
Retriever – I don’t know what the Retriever did to lose its demon status, but I think it’s doing just fine as an elemental animate level 27 soldier. As its name suggests, this creature excels in taking things as it can grab a target and move with them without ever making a strength attack. It also follows the standard formula that eye rays make everything cooler, as it gets to use all four of its eye rays each against a different target on its first turn and then one random eye ray recharges each subsequent turn. These consist of an Acid, Cold, Fire, and Thunder Ray each doing pretty much exactly what you’d expect them to do. On top of the retrieving and the eye rays, it can also Self-Repair and use its Unerring Accuracy to sense the general location of the specific type of target it was tasked with sniffing out, and then teleport to within 10 squares of that target. Yes, it even says, “the target need not be on the same plane as the retriever when it uses this power“.
Rust Monster – Quite possibly the most debated monster when it comes to 4th Edition, you’ll find no shortage of hatred for this iteration. The Rust Monster comes to 4E as a level 6 skirmisher with a bite attack that instills the ‘rusting’ property on heavy armor which causes the item to take a cumulative -1 penalty to AC up to a maximum of -5. This is the same as its Rusting Defense ability that targets an attackers weapon and causes the same property but with a penalty to damage rolls instead. It can then use its Dissolve Metal ability to target any rusting item and completely destroy that item. One of the big changes is that the Residuum of these items can be recovered from the monster’s body and is worth the full market value of the item rather than a percentage. A new iteration of the monster is the Young Rust Monster Swarm (level 9 solder) which can rust a PCs armor and weapons but cannot dissolve them so they are more of a hindrance unless they are combined with other rust monsters.
The last new addition to this entry is the level 11 skirmisher Dweomer Eater, who functions exactly like the regular Rust Monster but specifically targets armor and weapons with magic enhancement bonuses and causes them to decay (and then eats them). If you find yourself playing 4th Edition but longing for the days of the “more risky” Rust Monster than it’s an easy change for a DM to say that residuum can’t be recovered, or even to double the penalties it instills on items and let it eat multiple items per encounter. That is, of course, assuming as a PC you like losing items and as a DM you like having a monster that your players plan on never even going near.
Shadar-kai – To compliment the four varieties of Shadar-kai from the first MM, we have four new kinds with a special new ability. Each of these Shadar-kai have attacks that cause a target to be subject to a status called shrouded in gloom (always on a save ends basis). Shrouded in Gloom causes a creature to take a -2 penalty on attack rolls and gain only half the benefit of healing effects. The Shadar-Kai Blacksoul (level 14 controller) has a deadly ranged base attack power that shrouds enemies in gloom in addition to a ranged area power that does the same, but they can also Corrupt Soul a target effected by the gloom to dominate them. The Shadar-Kai Dawnkiller (level 14 lurker) has melee attacks that cause the gloom and can also blind targets, which stacks with the Shadows of the Raven Queen ability which grants 2d6 extra necrotic damage against targets that can’t see the Dawnkiller.
The aptly named Shadar-Kai Gloom Lord (level 14 artillery) has the same ranged attacks as the Blacksoul, but instead of dominating the Gloom Lord has the Shadowcage power which targets a creature that is shrouded in gloom, deals necrotic damage, restrains the target, and they cannot see targets more than two squares away from them. The last new entry is the Shadar-Kai Painbearer (level 15 skirmisher-leader), which is effectively a beefed up version of the original MM chainfighter. The Painbearer can Shadow Dance to shift 7 squares and attack three targets with a shadow chain, with the second and third attacks dealing extra damage if the one before them hits in addition to blinding targets that are already shrouded in gloom.
Shark – Similar to the mammoth this entry stands out for being a normal animal entry, but the level 10 brute Fleshtearer Shark is no ordinary monster. This aquatic terror is a perfect fit for the book featuring Demogorgon on the cover, with a damaging bite attack but the more fearsome power is Lockjaw Charge. This attack lets the shark charge, make a basic attack, and grab the target (when the grab ends the target takes 5 ongoing damage too). Once a creature is grabbed by the shark it uses Shredding Teeth which requires no attack roll and does 3d8+7 damage. Thankfully it could be effected by a Feeding Frenzy which happens if it starts a turn within 5 squares of a bloodied creature then it drops a creature it has grabbed and makes an attack against an adjacent creature. It also gets a natural Waterborne advantage of +2 damage against any creature in the water that does not have a swim speed.
Skeleton – The last monster entry for this in depth analysis, the two new additions to the very popular Skeleton listing. The first is the Bonecrusher Skeleton (level 7 soldeir) which is a large minotaur undead monster that swings a greatclub and can use Crushing Blow to knock enemies prone, but its most dangerous ability is its Threatening Reach. The next entry is rather curious, the level 3 skirmisher Skeletal Steed, can make mobile melee attacks and allow a rider to make attacks instead of its attack during the move. It also has a Death Shriek that gives a penalty to attack rolls. I assume this will become the favored mount for any low level bad guys that DMs choose to put a party up against, it should be a good filler until the villain can reach Nightmare mount status.
Monster Manual 2 – In Depth #1
Monster Manual 2 – In Depth #2
Monster Manual 2 – In Depth #3
Monster Manual 2 – In Depth #4
Monster Manual 2 – In Depth #5 (coming soon)
Inq. of the Week: Non-RPG Content?
Several readers commented on last week’s Inquisition to point out that the Eberron campaign setting for D&D doesn’t actually fit in that well to the Steampunk genre, but the results of our poll are an astounding majority (76%) of people who are interested in or like Steampunk. Only 7% actively dislike the genre, while the remaining 17% are either indifferent or don’t know enough about the genre to make a decision. Perhaps we should have some educational posts to enlight and convince that 17% to be more interested in the genre.
Well voting for the ENnies closed over the weekend, first and foremost I’d like to extend our thanks and appreciation to everyone who voted for us! No matter what you ranked our site compared to the others, they all help and hopefully we will be pleasantly surprised at the ceremony during GenCon. Being nominated for an RPG award for “Best Website” is an absolute honor for Dave, myself, and everyone else who contributes here. During the first two years of this site (2005-2007) I always took some pride in the fact that I first added the “Videogames” category to the site and for that period of time it was our biggest category. Since then RPGs has easily overtaken all of the other categories, which is not a surprise to us because 2007 is when we all started playing regular tabletop RPG campaigns again after several years of hit and miss attempts.
In an effort to always be looking and moving forward, this week I’d like to ask you all what kind of content you are most interested in seeing here at Critical Hits other than RPG and D&D related posts. Each of these categories includes reviews, editorials, previews, and everything else related to the topic that we can think of but if you have something specific in mind please share it with us in the comments. For example if you’d like to see weekly reviews of the coolest and best comic books each week (or month), then vote for comics in the poll and share the specifics with us in the comments. The one stand alone entry in the poll is “Original Webcomic”, for the few of you that have been reading the site for long enough might remember that I used to do a webcomic and post every week called Random Encounters for a few months, if this is something you’d be interested to see more of please let us know! You can vote for as many choices as you like, so feel free to vote for all of the categories you’d like to see us post more about in the future.
Loading ...Of course, if you can think of something new that you’d like us to cover here, vote for the “Other” option and let us know in the comments!
Hands On: Monster Builder Beta
The Monster Builder was released today to DDI subscribers, allowing us to build our own monsters for 4e. Of course, we could already do that… through Asmor’s Monster Maker, the Dungeonmastering Tools, or WotC’s own bonus tools utility.
So what does the new software bring to the table? Well, you still can’t use it to build encounters and have it print out stat blocks. Nor can you use it to apply templates to monsters. What you can do, that was mostly unavailable before, is modify existing monsters, swap powers between monsters, and build all new monsters by using bits and pieces from other monsters (and not just for Flesh Golems).
So here’s a walkthrough (with screenshots) of some of the Monster Builder features. As a few caveats, I don’t do a lot of homemade monster creation. I find the existing monsters in the game more than sufficient, and when I need something else, I can almost always shemp something into shape. So I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the specifics of monster creation when building some samples… mostly, I was just playing around.
First things first: I now use a MacBook, with VMWare installed to run Windows XP, in order to use the Character Builder and now the Monster Builder. The Character Builder was already installed, making the installation process easy, but your mileage may vary.
So after closing Character Builder, I installed and fired up the new Monster Builder. The first screen lists the “Adventure Tools”, of which Monster Builder is only one, with 4 other empty slots. What will these slots contain? Only time (and probably a lot of it) will tell. Anyway, next step was to click on Monster Builder, and then the launch took about a minute.
First screen lists some of the things you can do with the Monster Builder. A number of helpful tool tips appear on screen at various times to guide you through the process.
On the left, a list of all the official monsters from the Compendium. (Presumably, like the CB, Adventure Tools will update every month with new monsters). You can filter by name, keywords, level, and more. The middle shows the currently selected monster. The right has a “holding pen” where you can place a couple monsters you want to work with. The bottom middle has options for what you can do with the current monster: edit custom creature (for monsters you’ve made yourself that you want to modify), duplicate and edit creature (to use an existing monster as a starting point), or create new custom creature (to start from scratch).
Let’s start with modifying a monster. A few weeks back, I ran an adventure that needed Dwarven pirates. Let’s make a Dwarven pirate captain. I start with the Human Pirate Captain from MM2, which I find by typing in “pirate.”
I selected it, and it brought up all the details, with a separate entry in each block on the side for each of his powers.
I changed his name, up his level to make him more menacing, and add the Dwarf keyword. The powers automatically have their attack bonuses increase.
I gave him an extra range attack, his trusty flintlock pistol, with a recharge to represent reloading. I made it his basic ranged attack, and added some text. I modified the default cutlass melee attack to be a little weaker.
I needed to Dwarfify him, so I searched for Dwarf in the right sidebar. Oops- turns out that there’s a Dwarven buccaneer already. That’s OK, my Dwarven pirate will be way better. I clicked and dragged the “Stand Your Ground” racial power over. I saved the modified creature. I can copy it to the clipboard in rich text and paste into TextEdit or in image form (but that wasn’t working for me- couldn’t paste into Photoshop or any other program). I can also print my Captain, so I sent it to PDF.
To get back to the main screen, I clicked the X which says “Cancel Monster” since that’s the only option to go back. It prompts to save, even if you’ve already saved it.
OK, now a new monster. I clicked the make new monster button, and entered in the basic details. Paragon monster sounds about right, and now I need some powers.
As you can see, I can grab all kinds of different powers from different monsters, and it automatically recalibrates the attack and damage for level, though there’s no indication of when I’ve added too many powers for the level, so I just wing it.
I changed a few power names and a few keywords/damage types, and voila! I have a new monster.
I have a statblock ready to print and bring to my game table.
My analysis? It’s still early in the development of the tool, but clearly a boon for those who love to make their own monsters. The ability to move around powers between monsters (and even the ability to build off existing monsters) is a huge benefit to monster makers and tinkerers. However, for someone like myself who doesn’t have a lot of experience with doing it, it’s difficult to judge just what I’m doing and if my final creation is balanced along the lines of existing monsters. Swapping racial powers is useful, but not enough to make it invaluable when planning my game. Add in encounter building with statblocks and templating, and you’ll have yourself a deal.
Using the 5×5 Method for Adventure Design
Hi there, ChattyDM here. You know, that guy from that other blog ? Dave was kind enough to invite me to be a guest writer for the CH audience and for once I won’t be talking about Wii games.
What I will do today is build upon Dave’s groundbreaking concept: the 5×5 method.
In his post, Dave explained how you can build a multi-threaded campaign, featuring 5 interrelated plot-lines by planning your campaign on a 5×5 Grid. Each plot being broken up in 5 full adventures, giving you a 25 adventures campaign that could last you a few years.
When I read about that post, something clicked in my mind. I could feel that this seemingly simple concept had near unlimited potential as a game mastering tool. At the time I didn’t know what it would be, so I let that feeling simmer for a few weeks.
The 5×5 Adventure Method
Then, earlier this summer, while planning a short summer adventure, that dormant idea flourished…
What if I used the 5×5 method to create an adventure instead of a campaign?
What if, instead of having 5 long-term campaign plots, you would start with 5 quests/adventure hooks? For a D&D adventure, you could have one or two major quests and 3-4 minor quest or rumors as starting points. For example:
- The local baron asks the party to recover the fabled Shield of Eternal Valor from the ruins of Doom Keep to help him defeat bands of raiding goblinoids.
- The Church of St. Zwilek wants Divine Heroes to banish the leaders of the demonic cult of Gra’zok-Thousand-Eyes, responsible for enslaving gullible peasants.
- The son of a farmer was kidnapped by disfigured humanoids wearing demon-like tatoos.
- Rumor: Tales relate that an ornate legendary sword that talks lies lost deep under Doom Keep.
- Rumor: A Dragon used to lair near Doom Keep, its hoard was never found.
Each of those quests and rumors would in turn be broken in up to 5 scenes/encounter that move the story toward completion of the quest (or uncovers the truth about a rumor). You can use the 5 Room Dungeon model to create those scenes (a room and a scene are interchangeable in my mind).
Much like the original application, the trick of the 5×5 adventure method is to have some scenes connected by common elements like locales, NPCs, objects, etc. Maybe the party has to deal with a single NPC to obtain the necessary info for 2 or 3 of the 5 quests. Maybe they need to explore a single place to find 2 objects needed to complete 2 quests.
The more connections you make between the 5 plots/rumors, the more your players will link elements together, pulling their characters deeper in the story.
Rumors are an intriguing concept in that they don’t have to be true at all but must have a reason to exist. You can develop them into something completely unexpected.
For example, let’s take the legendary sword rumor and develop all 5 scenes:
- An ancient retired adventurers tells the party about a talking sword of legends abandoned deep under Doom Keep.
- In (occupied) side chamber of first level of keep, PCs find remains of adventurers. An ivory scroll case containing a depiction of sword and warnings about it’s evil nature is found.
- During negotiations with some humanoids living under the dungeon, they reveal that the sword is in possession of cult leader, deeper in the dungeon.
- Cult Leader turns out to be an animated corpse controlled by the sword impaled in it! As the cultists charge, the zombie draws it and attacks.
- After defeat of cult, the PCs must decide what to do with artifact, possibly leading to another adventure.
As you can see, the rumor turned out to be something unexpected while still being linked to the second quest (The Cult) and the first one (The Doom Keep).
Now one really interesting thing about using this method in regards to creating a D&D adventure is how convenient it is. Here’s how: take 5 quests and/or rumors and introduce each with a scene. That leaves you with 20 scenes/encounters to plan.
According to the D&D encounter algorithm, PCs level up after having played through about 10 encounters. This means that if you don’t combine too many scenes together, using the 5×5 method will give you an adventure that covers 2 levels, which puts them on par with a published adventures.
Neat huh?
Pacing of the 5×5 Adventure
One other concept I want to explore is how pacing of your game will affect how a 5×5 adventure plays. The way you set up your scenes and how far apart they are from one other (in terms of distance or timing) will greatly affect the feel of that adventure.
If all 20 scenes are spread over a multi-level dungeon, the adventure will take several sessions and feel like a classic dungeon crawl. If on the other hand, each scene takes place over a large area, including mini-dungeons, cities and frontier keeps, all with a backstory of war and intrigue, then your adventure will have a majestic, epic feel.
I tried to do the complete opposite with my summer D&D game. I had all plots be potential catastrophes that threatened the PC’s city and I had all of them occur one after the other. This created a sense of confusion and urgency similar to “oh crap” movies like Snatch and Lock, Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels. It was a hell of a blast to play but my players were convinced that I was out to get them.
So give the method a try, I know I’ll be using it as soon as I start playing again in September.
Inquisition of the Week: Your Steam is Punk
Welcome to the 144th installment of Inquisition of the Week, our weekly column where we pose a question- often in poll form- to which we want to hear the opinions of our reading audience. Though we often focus on gaming topics for our questions, our questions can take any form about any topic… whatever we want to inquire about.
Last week, we asked about the power sources of 4th Edition D&D, and which one most appeals to you. The results are in, and Martial was the most popular, powering the Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and Warlord to greater heights just by their muscles and wits. Next most popular was those who tap into the Arcane energies such as Bards, Wizards, Warlocks, Artificers, Sorcerers, and Swordmages. Primal was next, followed by Divine, then the mostly un-released Psionic, with the power-haters last.
This past week saw the release of the Eberron Campaign Guide. While I’ve followed Eberron since its acceptance into the D&D campaign setting contest (where it beat my entry, which I can’t promise wasn’t titled “Ninja World”) but I have yet to run or play in any kind of Eberron campaign. Between Bartoneus’s new found obsession with the world, e’s love of the setting, and the release of the 4e version, that may soon change. Some of the resistance to playing it before has been a dislike among some of my group to steampunk. While Eberron is more nuanced than simply a steampunk setting, there’s some clear resistance to the idea.
While I’m not as enamored with steampunk as some people, I do think it’s an interesting genre for an RPG setting. There’s plenty of possibilities for different player characters, as well as fascinating gadgets. But what do you think about the genre?
Loading ...If you have any experiences playing a steampunk game, we’d love to hear about that too.
Review: "Eberron Campaign Guide"
Overview: The DM companion book to the Eberron Player’s Guide, the Eberron Campaign Guide presents all of the information a DM could need to run a 4th Edition D&D game in the unique and interesting fantasy world of Eberron. Unlike the Player’s Guide, this is a book that mostly only DMs who want to run a game in Eberron are going to want to buy. However, what I did not expect is that reading this book would instill me with the insane desire to play D&D in a setting I was not really interested in beforehand.
In-Depth: As I stated in my review of the Eberron Player’s Guide, “the setting specific Campiagn Guides that come out are not books that I pay much attention to.” However, after reading through this book I am now hotly anticipating the first time I get to play or run a game on the continent of Khorvaire. If you’re not familiar with the story, back in 2002 Wizards of the Coast ran a competition to design your own setting with the hopes of finding something fresh and new to help boost the 3rd edition of D&D. I know Dave at least worked on an entry for the contest, but thankfully the very polite and friendly Keith Baker ended up winning with his entry that became the world of Eberron.
What’s so special and interesting about Eberron? I would actually say that there is nothing too special about it, which is exactly why it is so compelling. Nothing in the setting feels out of place or gimmicky. It uses many of the classic elements of Dungeons & Dragons in organic but unfamiliar ways mixed with a healthy dose of dark mystery, swashbuckling adventure, and magical technology. I’ve read through the 3E Eberron book almost exclusively to learn about Warforged and Artificers for the sole purpose of stealing them for my own games, and as you know I’m a big advocate of liberally mining the 4E Eberron Player’s Guide, but I have to say that while reading through this Campaign Guide I found myself more and more wanting to modify my game to fit into Eberron instead.
I originally intended to write another “Mining of…” review for this book, but when it comes to a setting you have locations, specific characters, and organizations which are more specific and difficult to simply yank out of the book for your homebrew game. Also, Wizards beat me to the punch with a small section right in the front of the book titled “Loot this book!” which mentions the savage/less demonic gnolls, ancestor-worshipping elves, eladrin cities in the feywild, and the magically devastated Mournland as suggestions for what you might want to use in your own game. Personally the piece that I want to loot the most is the cross-continent Lightning Rail! The fact of the matter is, once you’ve read each of these concepts you don’t really need the book to use them in your game. However, I think that the world of Eberron merges so well with the 4th Edition rules that everyone should play at least one game in this setting to experience it.
So many things seem to just line up when it comes to Eberron in 4E, whether its the less powerful magic items and Eberron’s prevalence of lesser magics, or the “every race is special” concept that plays nicely with Eberron’s various nationalities. The Halflings of the Talenta plains are far more intriguing to me than the standard Halflings in the PHB, and the same goes for the gnomes of Zilargo or the Warforged from the Mournland. Each race really begins to shine on its own when viewed as a part of this setting with all of the supporting mechanics behind it. In 4th edition it feels like every character has tricks up their sleeve and special abilities which I feel adds to the high adventure and sleek mystery that comes hand-in-hand with this setting.
This book has single-handedly changed my opinion: I will be playing in Eberron sometime soon. Now I’m going back and instead of just mining the Player’s Guide, I’m looking at what I would use to create a character to fit into this world.
Details: The Eberron Campaign Guide is a very well put together book and the piece that stands out the most to me is the artwork. From the Lord of Blades painting by Wayne Reynolds on the cover through the entire book the artwork really puts you into the world of action that is Eberron. Nothing quite excites me like seeing a Warforged with a bigass sword hanging from an airship over an oncoming lightning rail train. My main complaint with the book is that I like to see monsters all in one place, like they were in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide, but the monsters in this book are spread out and presented with their accompanying nations/locales. It does, on the other hand, come with a classic fold-up map of Khorvaire in the back which is always a welcome addition to a campaign setting. The Eberron Campaign Guide was released yesterday and is available now.
